Hamstreet, Kent - Portrait of a Village

[Transcript of original web page. Last updated April 2024]

LATEST NEWS: The village has one currently unused shop unit and a new path from the Pippins to Ashford Road is nearly complete.

Introduction to the Village

"Hamstreet is 'interesting' and retains the characteristics of a traditional and proud working village, something that is increasingly rare," - Kent Life Magazine.

This Kentish village is affectionately known as ‘the gateway to the marsh’, being located six miles south of Ashford where the ridge of clay hills meets the flat expanses of Romney Marsh, an area once awash with smuggling. The village was bypassed in 1994, but remains an important junction and is twinned with the little town of Therouanne in France. Therouanne was once a city with a cathedral which was sacked by the troops of Henry V. The stone cannonball near the flagpole in Hamstreet was a gift from the mayor of the twin town, presented with the words 'You can have your cannonball back!' More local history can be perused on the Forge Gardens noticeboard and at the station.

Traditional weather-board buildings and a generally unspoilt appearance make the place well worth a detour from the beaten track. Three long distance footpaths pass through the village; the Royal Military Canal Path follows the peaceful banks of a 28-mile waterway - the UK's third longest defensive structure, and the Saxon Shore Way and Greensand Way pass through the expansive deciduous woodland of Hamstreet Woods. In fact, the Greensand Way begins its 110-mile course to Haslemere at the village crossroads. A walk incorporating both the canal and Hamstreet Woods was featured in the 'Top 50 best summer walks in Britain' in the Independent newspaper. A second area of public woodland is located northwest of the village at Orlestone Forest.

To get a reasonably accurate population for the village as a socio-economic entity, add together the populations of Orlestone and Warehorne, for the boundary runs through Hamstreet itself. This amounts to 1,988 people (2021 census). Orlestone is the original location of the village - now just a hamlet, a mile to the north, centred around the eleventh century parish church of St Mary. The Church of the Good Shepherd is a more modern place of worship in the village's High Street and the ancient church of St Augustine's in Snave also comes under Hamstreet and holds one service annually at harvest festival. The church in Warehorne is dedicated to St Matthew. The area is great to explore on foot or by bike.

Hamstreet's Claims to Fame

H E Bates who wrote 'The Darling Buds of May' would have known the village well, and the writer Joseph Conrad resided at Capel House (one mile north of the village) from June 1910 to March 1919. The modern generation will perhaps be most familiar with the film 'Apocalypse Now' which was heavily influenced by his book 'Heart of Darkness.' In the late 1990s, the village pub was briefly managed by Patrick Murray who played Mickey Pearce in TV's 'Only Fools and Horses.' Many celebrities have lived within the wider local area including Vic Reeves, Bob Mortimer, Paul O'Grady, Noel Coward, Julian Clary, Alan Carr, the actress Jan Francis and international golfer, Peter Mitchell. Hamstreet has also been featured in futuristic writings by Sir Peter Hall and David Boyle. But what of the village itself?

Mountain Farm in Hamstreet once featured in BBC TV's 'Blue Peter' as a base camp for an expedition up the 'Marsh Mountain’. Romney Marsh is of course completely flat, so this humorous concept involved presenters turning a map of the area upside down and crawling along the road!

Hamstreet had its real moment of fame in the early 1990's, with maps of the village appearing on postage stamps all over the UK. John Craven even did a 'Countryfile' special on the village. This was to mark 200 years of the Ordnance Survey. Hamstreet was chosen because the area was the first to be mapped as part of a nationwide survey and the changes to the village over the years showed up very well on a series of stamps.

The village was featured on BBC South East Today's 'On The Map' feature in May 2021. Hamstreet was also on the route of the Tour of Britain cycle race which passed through in September 2006, and the Olympic Torch relay passed through the village en route to London for the 2012 Olympic Games. Search for 'Olympic Torch Hamstreet' on YouTube to view the relay and watch TV clips of the village here.

Business

Until 2013 there were five pubs within three miles of the village cross. At present there are three - the Duke's Head in Hamstreet itself, the Woolpack Inn in Warehorne and the White Horse in Bilsington. The Blue Anchor (Ruckinge) and World's Wonder (Warehorne) have sadly been allowed to disappear.

In the High Street there is a post office / general store, fish and chip shop, the Old Schoolhouse Indian restaurant, a curtain / blind shop, the 'Saw Joinery' DIY/joinery store, Lilly's Ink tattoo studio, the Cosy Kettle cafe, Early Birds renovations and Star Beauty School.

Marsh Road has Annings Motors garage, Smart Dogs grooming centre and Hamstreet Garden Centre which also has a cafe. Hamstreet Primary Academy (the school) is located in Ashford Road.

In Warehorne Road there is a dental clinic and Angela Hirst estate agency. There is currently an empty unit where the hairdresser’s used to be. Travel just out of the village and you'll find a vineyard, the mild climate of this part of Kent being particularly good for wine production.

Meanwhile, Ruckinge Road is the location of Joanne Fuller Beauty and Hamstreet Surgery, as well as the Nexus Programme office. A little further out of the village on Ruckinge Road is Meadow View Industrial Estate which contains several businesses.

Fun and Festivals

The village has a games area/tennis courts and a bowling green, as well as many clubs and associations too numerous to list. These include the Ruckinge and Hamstreet Scouts and Guides (HQ in Ruckinge), the Royal British Legion and the football club. Activities from coffee mornings to Zumba take place around the village at locations such as Victory Hall, Cosy Kettle cafe, primary school and Church of the Good Shepherd (which has its own hall attached). 

The Pound Leas pavilion has its own bar area, augmenting the flood-lit 'multi-use games area' and football field, all of which are the result of many years of fundraising. The Festival of Transport which used to take place every June was featured in a Live TV (satellite) documentary programme in 2009. Time will tell if Hamstreet can breathe new life into its summer calendar as this event folded in 2016. There are however regular 'bikejumble' events on the fair field for petrol heads. 

Also look out for posters for Hamstreet bonfire and fireworks on Pound Leas each November and the music festival in Warehorne village hall which usually takes place in July. For those wishing to stay locally, accommodation is available at the Woolpack Inn, a pleasant stroll across fields on the Saxon Shore Way. The sign outside the Dukes Head also displays accommodation. More info from the pub.

Transport facts

As well as daytime bus services to Ashford, New Romney and Lydd (Mon to Sat), Hamstreet has a railway station on the Ashford to Hastings line - one of only two remaining diesel lines in the provincial Southeast. Trains run direct to Eastbourne as well as Ashford for connections to London.

The village is well signed on the A2070 trunk road between Ashford's Southern Orbital Road and Brenzett, and between Aldington and Woodchurch on the B2067. The village used to be signed comprehensively in Tenterden and also from New Romney, Lympne and Appledore Heath. In spite of past campaigns for a return to better signage on grounds of being a junction point on a trunk road and a hub for local services, the village remains signed at the most basic level. Interestingly, there is a memorial at the southern exit for Hamstreet on the A2070 in honour of Liuetenant Johnson, a USA pilot who lost his life here during World War II after allowing his crew to parachute to safety. 

Details of useful cycle routes can be found in the 'Royal Military Canal and Associated Routes' blog, and circular walking routes can be found in the 'Smugglers and Saxon Shore Walks' blog. The A2070 and B2067 also have narrative blogs on this site detailing features along these routes, and the 'Ashford and Shepway Roads Database' blog details routes around the wider area.

Nostalgia 

The house on the corner of Ashford Road and Warehorne Road is believed to be the oldest in the village. It was a bakery until the 1980s, and a post office too until 1970, when a new post office was built at Bridgewell (now a private house in the one-way street). In the 80s the post office moved to the Mace store (now an office), finally settling at its current location in the Morrisons store, which itself was previously an independent store, then VG, Costcutter and McColl's. Hamstreet was briefly graced with a baker's shop again when the Chocoloate Box newsagency closed in 2012. There was a second newsagency (Harden's) located at Old Stores House in The Street until the 1990s.

Prior to use for beauty purposes, the shop at Woodville was an antiques shop, and before this a butcher's store. When the butchery closed in the 1980s, a butcher's counter was positioned at the rear of the VG store (now Morrisons) for a number of years. Villagers had a choice of garages, both with filling stations, at the time too. The second of these, Tippen's, was located where the small housing development between the former Chocolate Box and the church now stands.

Until the 1990s Hamstreet had a police house in Warehorne Road. The Indian restaurant was the original site of Hamstreet School until the current school was built in 1882. Prior to its current use the Old Schoolhouse was an antique shop, a photocopier centre, a tea room and the Masters restaurant.

The shopping area in Warehorne Road housed a greengrocer and a wool shop in the 1980s. It is also believed that when Viaduct Terrace was constructed in the 19th century, there were plans for the southernmost end of the terrace to be a pub. The Duke's Head is in fact a rebuild; the original pub opened its front door directly onto The Street and was originally named 'The George', 'The Three Mariners' and then 'The Duke of Cumberland'. The twin pub of the current Duke's Head was the former Stonebridge Inn at Woodchurch. Hamstreet also had a twin station building, at Winchelsea in East Sussex. 

Meanwhile, the former World's Wonder in Warehorne was one of five Kentish pubs which were built to the same design. The others were the now-bulldozed Ship at Lade (Romney Marsh), the former Bell Inn at Coxheath, The Redstart Inn at Barming and The Papermaker's Arms at Hawley (Dartford).

Hamstreet exchange phone numbers consisted of four figures prior to standardisation of the 01233 Ashford area code. The telephone exchange is still located next to the railway station. The old exchange is located at the top of a flight of steps to the south of the railway bridge in Ashford Road.

Development names for recent estates were Orchard View (Bankside), Saxon Woods (Lancaster Close), Brook Gate (Orlestone View), The Pippins (Ingoldsby Lane) and Nightingale View (Brimstone Road, etc.).

Campaigning

As we have seen, in spite of a reasonably healthy 'business' section, there is a lot of nostalgia for lost amenities. In 2008 Pumpkin TV produced a DVD for geography students which used Hamstreet as a case study for challenges that affect many English villages. It has sometimes been very frustrating to see a minority fighting plans for new business when so many outlets have been lost over the years. Beginning in the late 1990s the author of this site has attempted to challenge the status quo. 

This began by escalating complaints when the village's railway station ticket office was closed for a period of over six months in the late 1990s, and continued with expressing support for the Indian restaurant to be allowed to provide a takeaway service, for the doctor's surgery to expand, for a fish and chip shop to be allowed, for a new cafe to be allowed and in favour of changes to the Woolpack Inn which ultimately allowed this popular pub to reopen in 2015. However, support from other villagers has been intermittent, and a campaign to prevent the conversion of a former newsagent into residences fell flat. A campaign to upgrade the canal towpath making it suitable for cyclists may eventually reach fruition with a proposed link between Hamstreet and Appledore although news on this has currently gone quiet.

The truth is that one person cannot change a village, and I would personally encourage villagers to use the 'search' and 'comment' facility on Ashford Borough Council's planning website to support new amenities and object to further losses of business space whenever such proposals arise. I hope that the quote from 'Kent Life' magazine which began this post will be as true in years to come as it is at the time of writing.

In the 2010s residents fought to save a much loved green space at Carters Wood. At present two large new developments are being constructed in  the village. This has been another area of controversy locally with many villagers feeling that Hamstreet is becoming a small town. Perhaps once the estates are complete the emphasis should be on encouraging the new residents to support local amenities and events and to truly integrate into village life. The size/price of the new homes and lack of starter homes is also contentious.

Credits and links

This page has been put together by Adam Colton, a local author of UK travel, music reviews and psychological fiction. Please visit the author page on the Amazon website, Smashwords, iBooks, etc. for details of available books. Adam is also one half of the musical duo Adam Colton & Teresa Colton. Check out their songs on YouTube, Spotify, iTunes and other music sites. Also, please search for the names of any of the businesses, clubs, amenities or venues mentioned on this page that aren't listed below.

The twin village of Therouanne (link here) in France. 

Hamstreet Woods national nature reserve

BBC news report on the 2012 Olympic Torch relay here

Old Schoolhouse Indian Restaurant (The Street)

Early Birds Renovations (The Street)

Star Beauty School (The Street)

Morrisons Store (The Street)

Annings Race & Restoration (Marsh Road)

Dog grooming centre (Marsh Road)

Hamstreet Garden Centre (Marsh Road)

Joanne Fuller Beauty  (Ruckinge Road)

Nexus Programme Office (Ruckinge Road)

Doctor’s surgery (Ruckinge Road) 

Dental Clinic (Warehorne Road)

Angela Hirst Estate Agency (Warehorne Road)

Hamstreet Wines (Warehorne Road)

Warehorne Vineyard (Warehorne Road)

School (Ashford Road)

White Horse (Bilsington)

Woolpack Inn (Warehorne)

Scout and Guide Associations (shared with Ruckinge)

The Victory Hall committee

Link to 'bikejumble' events 

Visit by Train Website

The parish council's site is here

Hamstreet, Villagenet

Hamstreet Pictorial History

There is now a sister-page on this blog about the nearest town of Ashford

Hamstreet, Kent - Saxon Shore Walking Routes

[Transcript from original web page. Last updated April 2023]

The information on this page may be freely copied for use on walks.

The village of Hamstreet is surrounded by public woodland including Hamstreet woods, an area of special scientific interest renowned for the presence of wild service trees and nightingales. 

The routes in this guide explore the contrasting elements of the local area, including Romney Marsh and the banks of the Royal Military Canal. 

Hamstreet is a great base for walkers because of its railway station, coffee shops in both the High Street and garden centre,  fish and chip shop, Indian restaurant, shops and Duke's Head pub. Note: wordings highlighted in bold are reference points that appear in different walks.

Ruckinge Loop (5 miles) 

A variation on this route was featured in the 'Top 50 best summer walks in Britain' in the Independent newspaper.

Head towards Hythe along the one-way street from the village crossroads and take the second turning left onto Bourne Lane. At the end of the lane, bear right, through the gate into Hamstreet Woods. 

As you enter the woods the Saxon Shore Way bridges a stream and bears sharp left. Then after around a hundred yards it forks right. Stay on the grassy right-hand-side, as the surfaced path on the left eventually deviates. The trail runs right through the middle of the woods, gradually climbing for around a mile until it reaches a gate at the top of the woods. Go through the gate and continue up to the T-junction with Gill Lane byway. 

Bear left and climb out of the woods along the byway. The Saxon Shore Way then exits right along a farm track, while we continue ahead on Gill Lane (Greensand Way). 300 yards later you will reach a junction; turn right taking great care as this lane is narrow and bounded by hedges.

Several hundred yards later, you will reach another junction with a gravel surfaced byway leading straight ahead. Follow this all the way into the woods, around the sharp bend and on for around a mile descending to meet the B2067 near Herne Farm.

Turn right, walking westward along the road for a quarter of a mile to Ruckinge village. This is a historic settlement because of its smuggling connections; it is believed that the notorious Ransley brothers were hanged at Penenden Heath, Maidstone and buried in Ruckinge churchyard (St Mary Magdalene). 

Our route turns left at the T-junction after the former Blue Anchor pub to pass the former chapel. Feel free to take an optional detour along the B2067 for 300 yards to visit the parish church (if you enter the churchyard, look for the footpath on the left-hand-side of the church and follow this roughly due southeast down to the lane). 

Cross the bridge on the lane over the Royal Military Canal. It is now just a simple matter of turning right to follow the canal path back to Hamstreet. When you reach Hamstreet Bridge around a mile and a half later, turn right, and follow the road past the garden centre (including coffee shop) back into the village. Just after passing Mountain Farm on your right, there is a footpath on your left, which runs parallel to the road behind the hedge as you enter the village – a quiet alternative across a field and Pound Leas recreation ground to the car park in The Street, beyond which you will pass the Victorian 'Church of the Good Shepherd' (former chapel).

Bilsington Loop (7 miles) 

Follow the route of the ‘Ruckinge Loop’ as far as Herne Farm, Ruckinge. (If you wish to try an alternative route into the woods, head south from Hamstreet Crossroads and turn left down the alleyway opposite the church. Follow this over the little bridge, past the bowling green and straight over the road to pass the duck-pond and climb through a housing estate. Turn left when you reach a T-junction of estate roads, and when the road reaches a dead end, turn left into the woods. This narrow path curves right and soon becomes wider and dead-straight (Main Ride). Follow this all the way to the end where it meets Gill Farm Track. Turn right to continue the Ruckinge Loop up to the gate at the top of the woods and on as instructed above).

When you reach Herne Farm, turn left along the B2067 and walk very carefully until the sharp left-hand bend. Take the public footpath ahead and slightly left across the field (use the left-hand edge if blocked), passing the house at the top of the hill on your left. Head for the corner next to the road as you descend. Cross the stile into the next field and continue along the left-hand-side. At the bottom of this field, cross the bridge over the ditch and continue along the left-hand-side of the next field, emerging onto the B2067 via the gate.

Turn right, following the road up the hill into Bilsington village, taking great care. Here, the pub is the White Horse and the church is dedicated to St Peter and St Paul. The obelisk is a monument, built in 1835, to honour a local landowner, Sir William Richard Cosway, who was famed for his generosity towards his workers but tragically died in a coaching accident. Bilsington was voted the fifth best postcode area in the UK to live in in 2006.

Turning right at the crossroads, follow the lane down the hill past the cricket field on your right, with an optional detour up the track on the left to visit the church of St Peter and St Paul (if you go through the gate opposite the church door and over the stile, you can rejoin the road at the bottom of the hill via the footpath roughly due southwest across the field). 

Take the footpath on the right just before the canal bridge to follow the north bank to Ruckinge Bridge and then swap to the south bank to continue to Hamstreet Bridge, turning right to follow the road past the garden centre back into the village.

Orlestone Loop (2 miles)

Head towards Hythe along the one-way street from the village crossroads and take the second turning left onto Bourne Lane. At the end of the lane, pass through the swing-gate and continue straight ahead. Heading north along the left-hand edge of the field, you will soon reach the railway embankment, climb this and cross the line carefully. This Ashford to Hastings line is one of only two remaining diesel lines in the provincial South-East.

Descend the embankment to the next field, and follow the footpath diagonally across, roughly northward. You will climb to pass underneath the bypass, opened in 1994.  Bear right after the underpass and continue along left-hand-side of the next field. Continue as you pass a house and tennis courts on your left. Next you will pass a pond behind St Mary's Church where the path bears slightly left to continue across the field.

You will soon reach a crossroads of footpaths. Turn sharp left at the post to take the path which is slightly diagonal across the field to reach the lane. Our walk continues straight across, but those wishing to explore the church can detour left at this point. This hamlet, centred around St Mary’s church was once the centre of population. When the flat-lands of Romney Marsh were drained, the population decamped to the more southerly location of Hamstreet, then known merely as ‘Ham’. It was the coming of the railway in 1851 that ultimately led to the growth of this village.

Our footpath crosses a lawn and passes to the left of a pond to descend across the next field to the old Ashford Road. Turn left and return to the village centre down the hill on the pavement, passing the school and railway station. If ever the final fields are blocked, the lane from St Mary's Church also meets the old Ashford Road where a left turn can be taken back to Hamstreet. 

Capel Road Loop (4 miles)

Follow the route of the ‘Orlestone Loop’ on the first leaflet as far as the crossroads of footpaths just after passing behind Orlestone Church. For this route, continue straight ahead, briefly passing through woodland and emerging into a large field. The path soon bears diagonally right across the field out to Capel Road where you turn right. If you are unable to cross the field, continue ahead and slightly left past the two trees in the middle of the field and look for the hole in the hedge to emerge onto the road and turn right to walk along it.

Walk along the road until you see a small public footpath on your right (note this is around 300 yards beyond the wide entrance to the woods). This path leads into Packing Wood, which was estranged from the rest of Hamstreet Woods when the bypass sliced through the middle in 1994.

Upon reaching a wide grassy ‘ride’, turn right to follow this through the coniferous forest for half a mile. At a staggered junction of paths turn right onto a grassy public footpath and then right again a hundred yards later to head back into the trees. Continue on this public footpath for the next half a mile, out of the woods and on across the field, back to a familiar crossroads of paths, where you will be able to continue onward and slightly left to the lane at Orlestone to complete the ‘Orlestone loop’ back to Hamstreet.

Warehorne Loop (3 miles)

Head towards Tenterden along the B2067 from the village crossroads. After passing beneath the arched railway bridge and the road bridge, climb the steps on your left. A short distance along this stony path, there is a stile to your right. Climb over and follow the Saxon Shore Way in a straight line towards the church tower across the fields. Passing through a number of swing-gates, the route descends into a dip and climbs again to reach a stile surrounded by bushes at the top right corner of the final field. Cross the stile and turn right when you reach the lane.

The sixteenth century Woolpack Inn is connected to the church of St Matthew by an underground tunnel. This was built and used for smuggling, a common activity in this area in centuries past.

Take the path, left, via the churchyard and walk around the west side of the building. If you imagine a straight line right through the church bearing slightly left, this is roughly the route of the footpath down to the lane via the bushes to the left of the house at the bottom. When you emerge, cross the level crossing and continue down to Warehorne Canal Bridge. The Royal Military Canal was built as a line of defence against a feared invasion from Napoleon. A footpath follows its banks for the full 28 miles from Cliff End (near Hastings) to Seabrook (near Folkestone). 

To return to Hamstreet, cross the first stile on your left just before the bridge and head diagonally left to take the footpath due northeast across the fields. [If the path is blocked, an alternative route is to follow the canal path eastward, crossing the A2070 and turning left when reaching the bridge near Hamstreet Garden Centre.] After a while the path passes through a swing-gate on your right to continue northeast. Look carefully for the bridges across the dykes. The telegraph pole in the middle of the distant sloping field is a good reference point to check you are on course although you will have to deviate around the marshy vegetation at times. You will eventually reach the Hamstreet bypass; cross this and continue. Please be warned that the sections running beside the bypass can often be very brambly. The path then crosses another field and descends to the village, passing a farmhouse to the left and bridging a dyke and narrowly passing a Southern Water compound to reach a short lane back out to the High Street.

Kenardington Loop (5 miles) 

Use the previous route to get to Warehorne, but continue along the lane past the church and Woolpack Inn. Take the drive to a farm on the left, and almost immediately take the Saxon Shore Way through the swing-gate on the right, across the field. As you descend across the middle of the sloping second field, head for the right-hand-side of the row of trees at the bottom. Pass through the swing-gate and head southwest, diagonally across the field towards Kenardington church, lining yourself up with the bridges that cross the dykes. At this low point, it is easy to realise why the Saxon Shore Way is so called, for these fields would have been covered by water many centuries ago.

It is a gentle climb to St Mary’s, which occupies the site of a Saxon camp that was stormed by the Danes in the ninth century. Follow the pathway that bears right from the church door, and as you leave the churchyard, you will notice a footpath on your right. Follow this along the fence and eventually you will descend via a series of steps to a lane. Turn right, continuing around the corner and on for several hundred yards until reaching a T-junction.

Turn right and walk along this lane up the hill. Just before you reach the junction with the B2067, there is a path / alleyway on your right; follow this past the houses and eventually parallel to the B2067, until you have to emerge to continue eastward along the road. Just by the village entrance sign for Warehorne, you can use a remnant of the old route on the left-hand-side past the former World's Wonder pub. 

When you reach the B-road again, you will see a concrete drive on the opposite side. Proceed along this for around 200 yards until you notice a stile on the left-hand-side. Cross this and walk across the field; as you continue there should be a house just to your left. Be warned: there can sometimes be tall weeds or crops to negotiate. After passing the house, the path enters another field and climbs, with a row of bushes to the left, until reaching a familiar swing-gate, with just two fields to cross back to Warehorne on the Saxon Shore Way, from which you can continue the previous walk via the churchyard down to the canal.

Hamstreet Village Circumnavigation (2 miles)

From the crossroads head west along Warehorne Road. After 200 yards, you will notice a public footpath on your left running between two houses. The path is channelled around a couple of bends and across a bridge, eventually coming out onto a drive. Turn right to follow the drive around the left-hand bend and out to the High Street.

Cross the main road using the traffic island and turn right. When you are nearing the village sign (pause to read the plaque), look for a passageway on your left. Take this footpath around the back of the houses and cross Cock Lane, continuing straight ahead along the edge of the playing field and across the loop of Fairfield Terrace housing estate. The path continues directly onward up the driveway and into the field, right over the top of Cotton Hill and down the other side. Don’t forget to enjoy the views both ways at the summit.

The path goes through the gate to the right of the farmhouse at the bottom of the hill and after the stile, turns diagonally left to emerge onto the B2067 via a stile beneath a tree. Turn left to head back towards the village along the road, climbing the hill, taking great care. Just beyond the brow of the hill, you will notice a track-way on your right, signed ‘Orlestone Rise’. Wander up this track and at the end on your left you will find the entrance to Hamstreet Woods.

Follow the path (known as School Ride) into the woods, descending steeply. The path crosses Main Ride and descends some more, gradually curving right to end at a T-junction with ‘Stickles Path’; turn left to descend and cross the bridge, exiting the woods onto Bourne Lane. Pass through the swing-gate to your right and then another swing-gate immediately left. The path now heads along the left-hand field-edge. You will pass through a housing development and then climb a slope to the station. Turn left, walking along the nearest platform and take the steep ‘station exit’ slope down to the road and back to the crossroads on the pavement.

Marsh Loop (4 miles)

This walk is an introduction to Romney Marsh. Head south from the village crossroads signed ‘New Romney’, passing through the High Street and on past the garage. Just past the garden centre you will bridge the Royal Military Canal. Go through the gate on your left and follow the towpath along the canal for two thirds of a mile. 

Take the byway on your right (just before reaching a pumping station) and after several hundred yards you will cross a bridge where the main route bears sharp left. Turn right at this point to follow a grassy byway along the edge of the ditch. You may have to climb over a few gates during the next two thirds of a mile.

Eventually, you will notice a wide wooden footbridge to your right. Cross this and follow the footpath ahead along the left-hand edge of the field. Be warned: the grass can be quite high and weedy here at times.

When the row of bushes ends, bear slightly left and continue in the same direction so that the next line of bushes is on your right. At the end of this section, bear slightly right to pass through the gap in the bushes and then curve naturally left along the field-edge.

The footpath crosses this field diagonally, due northwest to the opposite corner. If you are unable to cross the field, follow the field-edge to your left until you are able to turn right (due north). Either way you will eventually reach a footbridge, with another bridge immediately after on the left. Cross these and follow the footpath diagonally across this final field, due northwest. 

When you reach Hamstreet Canal Bridge, turn right, and follow the familiar road past the garden centre, back into the village.

Route to Orlestone Forest (1½ miles each way)

To reach Fagg's Wood, which is part of Orlestone Forest, head along the road towards Tenterden from the crossroads. You will pass beneath the railway bridge and bypass bridge, and at the top of the hillock there is a byway on your right. Follow this, and eventually it will emerge into open fields. Follow the right-hand field edge as the path gently climbs. The path follows the line of the fence to your right and eventually reaches a small gate into woodlands. 

Continue up through the woods and then diagonally left across an open field to the northwest corner. Another short wooded section will bring you out to Malthouse Lane. Turn right along the lane and several hundred yards later turn left into the gravel entrance to Faggs Wood. There is a picnic area here, and if you continue to the end of the gravel track you will find a path into the woodlands. Feel free to explore the reserve and return to Hamstreet the way you came.   

The A2070 - Original Web Page

[Transcript from original web page. Last updated August 2023]

Known to most locals as the 'A twenty seventy', the A2070 spans just over thirteen miles in Southeast Kent, from Brenzett to Kennington (a northern suburb of Ashford). 

Originally, a mere 'B' road, running from Ashford town centre to the small Romney Marsh town of New Romney, the road was re-classified in the seventies, with the route being switched to end in the tiny village of Brenzett. Then, with the onset of the Channel Tunnel and Ashford's burgeoning growth, spurred on by the international station, the whole route was rebuilt in the early nineties and it is now part of the South Coast Trunk Route. 

The '2070' is perhaps the only road in the UK to have been a B road, an A road, a primary route and a trunk road whilst maintaining the same number. In transport terms, a real 'rags to riches' story and there's even a video here.

1) Hamstreet Bypass

0m Leaving the A259 at Brenzett (approx. half way between Hastings and Folkestone), the road streaks northwards across the completely flat Romney Marsh (famed for its sheep), with only an avenue of poplar trees for company. Brenzett used to be signed as the main destination on the A2070 from Ashford in spite of its small size, but most of the signs now say 'Hastings'. However, as yet, signs on the A259 from Hastings haven't been updated to include the trunk destination of Ashford. Facilities at Brenzett include a filling station, a school and an aeronautical museum. Sadly the Fleur de Lis pub and village post office have bitten the dust.

2m Snave. After the staggered junction with roads from Brenzett Green and Ivychurch (both former incarnations of the '2070'), we pass the hamlet of Snave with our first long straight. St Augustine's church, to the right, has one service annually at harvest festival. Mischievous youths regularly alter the signs to read 'Shave.'

3m Stockbridge. It is hard to believe that at this point traffic used to grind to a halt at the Wey Street T-junction to pass single-file over a ditch. 

4m Hamstreet South (Johnson's Corner). Johnson was a heroic pilot who lost his life in the Second World War. His plane was in trouble as he returned from crossing the Channel; his crew had to bail out but he tragically lost his life at this spot.

Here the old road exits right for Hamstreet. This is a large village compared to most in this area. Hamstreet has a church which was formerly a chapel, as well as a range of shops and services, a railway station, public house (Duke's Head), Indian restaurant, fish and chip shop, cafe, garage, school, surgery and dentist. The village makes a great base for walkers wishing to explore the three long distance footpaths; the Saxon Shore Way, the Greensand Way and the Royal Military Canal Path. The village is famous for its appearance in map-form on a set of postage stamps marking the bicentenery of the Ordnance Survey.

4.5m The canal forms the boundary of the marshes and runs from Seabrook (near Folkestone) to Cliff End (beyond Rye). It owes its existance purely to the threat of invasion from Napoleon. The double bends every 600 yards would have been manned as lookouts.

The bypass was constructed on giant polystyrene blocks to bridge the canal because the ground here is unusually soft. This was the first time this technique was used in the UK, being more usually used to contruct roads over ice-fields in Alaska. Our road streaks straight ahead to climb the ridge of clay hills, with views of Warehorne church to the left and Hamstreet to the right.

5.5m Hamstreet North (Orlestone). The hamlet of Orlestone was the original centre of population here and is the location of the parish church. It wasn't until the damp Romney Marshes were drained that the populace decamped to low-lying Hamstreet, originally known as plain 'Ham'.

There is an exit here to rejoin the old road which continues via Bromley Green and Kingsnorth.

The new road climbs up through the expansive woodlands (well worth a visit), and joins the Hastings to Ashford railway line to the right, running dead-straight for several miles. The four bridges over the road between here and the Southern Orbital junction were designed to blend in with the 1850s brick structures across the railway.

As we traverse more flat, open agricultural land, it is also worth noting that this line is one of only two diesel lines in the provincial Southeast. 

9m Park Farm Estate. The A2070 used to have a clear run from Hamstreet to Ashford, but a roundabout was added in 2006 to accommodate traffic from various new housing projects. Park Farm is a large modern housing estate with a school, a supermarket and a little square not far from the roundabout with a convenience store. However, there is no pub and the long-promised rail halt has never materialised.

Nearby Kingsnorth still just about maintains a village feel, being separated from the burgeoning metropolis by a small ‘green belt'. The village includes a church, a school, a pub (Queen's Head), a motorbike shop and a reunion with the Greensand Way. 

The A2070 continues for another mile in dead straight form, squeezed between the housing estate and the railway line. As it nears the roundabout, the road enters a 50 limit and one encounters a set of traffic lights, to enable cyclists to cross the road from Park Farm to use the path towards the town centre.

2) Ashford South Orbital Road

9.5m Having reached the main Park Farm roundabout, the A2070 then passes beneath Southern Orbital Road to spiral up sharply onto this dual carriageway section, where the national speed limit resumes but by the time you reach 70 mph you’re back into a 50 zone and then a 40.

Meanwhile, the A2042 kindly provides the main route to Ashford town centre, which includes the tented 'designer outlet' and an international station where one could board a 186-mph Eurostar train bound for Paris or Brussels until services were put into limbo thanks to COVID (apparently). The town centre is largely traffic free and the area around the tall parish church of St Mary's still maintains a quaint peacefulness. Ashford has a long history as a railway town, but the works sadly closed in the nineties.

  

10.5m Finberry / Waterbrook. There was originally a roundabout to serve the truck-stop here. This was removed in 2022, being replaced by traffic lights. As we near the junction there is a turning southward to serve the new Finberry Estate. At the junction itself, which is the widest part of the entire A2070, the southern exit leads to a 'lorries only' service area, and the northern exit leads to the relocated Ashford market (bright thinking, sticking it two miles out of town!), as well as business parks consisting largely of car showrooms and a McDonald's which was reported as being the second busiest branch in the world in the early 2020s (yes, seriously).

11m Sevington. Marooned to the right of the speeding traffic, one can make out the spire of Sevington church now surrounded by a huge lorry park where there were once open fields - a consequence of Brexit that leavers rarely boast about! To the left is another business park and the Highfield housing estate. There is another roundabout with a dual carriageway link (also numbered A2070) to junction 10A of the M20, shaving off a corner for coastbound traffic. This was opened in autumn 2019.

11.5m Junction 10. We enter a 40 limit to approach the Lacton Interchange, known to many as the ‘roundabout from hell.' More mild-mannered types merely know it as 'M20 junction 10.' This is the point at which the A2070 ceases to be a trunk road or primary route.

3) Willesborough to Kennington

This final section is the re-designated B2164. Its character is much different from the rest of the road, being a mostly unimproved suburban route, complete with 30mph speed limit. A mini roundabout forms the junction for the William Harvey Hospital. We descend through Willesborough Lees, and crossing the River Stour, we pass Conningbrook Lake (worth a visit), the Bachelors soup factory and the Julie Rose Athletics Stadium.

13m Little Burton Farm. Having crossed the Ashford-Canterbury railway line, one is plunged into suburbia once again. The era of an unbroken view to the North Downs is now history.

13.5m Having bridged the Ashford-Canterbury railway line via parallel humpback bridges, we pass Little Burton estate on the left as we traverse the final half-mile straight to the end of the road. At the roundabout we meet the A28 - another noteworthy route, for it encompasses 58 miles from just north of Hastings to Margate, via Tenterden, Ashford and Canterbury.

Why the A2070?

With Lydd airport being considered for expansion, we may eventually see the B2075 upgraded. If this becomes a southern extension of the A2070 via a multiplex with the A259 through Old Romney, the road would gain another 7 miles. Being really optimistic, we may even see the Lydd branch railway line reopen too.

Many drivers enjoy the Hamstreet bypass section purely because of their desire for speed, hence regular speed-traps are now a feature. The South Orbital section originally formed the boundary of urban Ashford but this is no longer the case. All in all, the road illustrates all that is good and bad about Kent in a mere 13.5 miles. It has improved travel, but it has meant the loss of some rural businesses as well as having a worryingly high accident record.

A2070 Picture Gallery